Colossians 3:11 - Exposition

Where there is (or, can be ) no Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman ( Galatians 3:28 ; Galatians 6:15 ; Ephesians 2:14-18 ; Ephesians 4:25 ; 1 Corinthians 12:13 ; Romans 15:5-12 ; Philemon 1:15 , Philemon 1:16 ; John 17:20-23 ; Luke 22:24-27 ; John 13:12-17 ). That ἔνι means "can be," "negativing, not merely the fact, but the possibility," is doubtful in view of 1 Corinthians 6:5 (Revised Text). "In Christ" these distinctions are non-existent. There is no place for them. These and the following words indicate the sphere, as "unto knowledge" the end, and "after the image" the ideal or norm, of the progressive renewal to be effected in the Colossian believer. It can be carried on only where and so far as these distinctions are set aside. The "new man" knows nothing of them. The enmity between Greek and Jew being removed, the malice and falsehood that grew out of it will disappear ( 1 Corinthians 6:8 , 1 Corinthians 6:9 : comp. Romans 15:7 ; Ephesians 4:25 ). In Galatians 3:28 "Jew" stands first, and the distinction of sex is added. The distinctions here enumerated appear as looked at from the Greek side. Only here in the New Testament does "Greek" precede "Jew" (comp. Romans 1:16 ; 1 Corinthians 12:13 , etc.). "Barbarian" ( Romans 1:14 ) and "Scythian" (only here in the New Testament) are together opposed to "Greek," and imply want of culture rather than alien nationality, the Scythian being the rudest of barbarians (see Lightfoot's full note). Such terms of contempt would, in Asia Minor, be commonly applied by Greeks to the native population. The party who affected philosophic culture ( Colossians 2:8 , Colossians 2:23 ) may, perhaps, have applied them to simple, uneducated Christians (see note on Colossians 1:28 ). (On "circumcision," see Colossians 2:11 ; and for the connection with Colossians 2:9 , comp. Galatians 6:15 .) For "bond" and "free," a division then pervading society universally, comp. Galatian list. Onesimus and Philemon are doubtless in the apostle's mind. On this relationship he enlarges in the next section (Col 3:22-4:1). The four pairs of opposed terms represent distinctions

But Christ is all things, and in all ( Colossians 1:15-20 ; Colossians 2:9 , Colossians 2:10 ; Colossians 3:4 , Colossians 3:17 ; Ephesians 1:3 , Ephesians 1:10 , Ephesians 1:22 , Ephesians 1:23 ; Ephesians 2:13-22 ; Ephesians 3:8 , Ephesians 3:19 ; Philippians 1:21 ; Philippians 3:7-14 ; Philippians 4:19 ; Galatians 2:20 ; Galatians 5:2 , Galatians 5:4 ; Romans 5:10 ; Romans 8:32 , Romans 8:39 ). "Christ" stands at the end of the sentence, with accumulated emphasis. The Church regards and values each man in his relation to Christ, and bids every other consideration bow to this. He is "all things"—our common centre, our standard of reference, and fount of honour, the stun of all we acknowledge and desire; and he is "in all"—the common life and soul of his people, the substance of all we experience and possess as Christians. The second "all" is masculine (so most commentators, from Chrysostom downwards), referring more specially to the classes just enumerated. Similarly, in Ephesians 4:6 : comp. Colossians 1:27 ; Ephesians 3:17 ; Galatians 1:15 ; Galatians 2:20 ; Galatians 4:19 . (While he is "in all," it is equally true that all are "in him:" comp. John 15:4 ; John 17:23 , John 17:26 .) Just as in the spiritual sphere, and in the relations between God and man, Christ is shown to be all, so that "principalities and powers" are comparatively insignificant ( Colossians 1:16 ; Colossians 2:9 , Colossians 2:10 , Colossians 2:15 ); so in the moral sphere, and in the relations between man and man. All human distinctions, like all angelic offices, must pay homage to his supremacy, and submit to the reconciling unity of his kingdom ( Ephesians 1:10 ).